Hair drier



www ww Nov. 30, 1943. R. VALVERDE HAIR DRIER Filed April 22, 1941 FIGA.

Patented Nov. 30, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HAIR DRIER.

Robert Valverde, New York, N. Y.

Application April 22, 1941 Serial No. 389,702

10 Claims.

ticular objects of the invention are to dry hair in a shorter period and at a lower temperature than heretofore, and to do it without discomfort, even in warm, humid weather.

The invention comprises a number of hollow two-chambered pads conforming to part or all of the head, the inner side of each pad carrying short, thin. pointed projections, which act to separate the wet hair and permit orifices at the base of each projection to blow a jet of dried air directly to the scalp. These projections may be tubes, pointed and open at the end that touches the scalp. The tubes are in two sets distributed among each other, each set terminating in a separate chamber in the pad. The pads are worked gently against the wet hair s as not to disarrange the coiffure, until the orice tubes touch the scalp. Because of their number, no one pointed tube presses against the scalp with suliicient force to be annoying. Since the wet hair is mostly horizontal with the scalp and is about 1A; inch thick, very small penetration is needed.

Dry air supplied under pressure to the pressure chamber in the pad penetrates to the scalp, absorbs moisture as it passes between the horizontal hairs and is picked up by the adjacent suction tubes leading to the vacuum chamber,

and goes on through the suction tube line to the air conditioning machine.

This machine is a combination. cf structure used in air conditioning machines and vacuum cleaners, with a sump tank to catch the precipi tated moisture that passes through a vacuum valve, and a thermally-controlled by-pass around the warm motor-compressor where heat is added to the cooled air, and the air, which is dry and may be at skin temperature, is forced through a pressure tube to the pressure chambers in the pads to start a new drying cycle.

In the accompanying drawing, forming a part hereof:

Fig. 1 is a, schematicdrawing of the sectional i pads on thehair and the special air conditioning machine.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view 'of one of the pads of Fig. l showing the distribution of the projections and'their penetration to the scalp.

Fig. 5 is a'perspective view showing aA modified I form of tube for projection into the hair.

Hollow pads I and 2 of Fig. 1, designed to approximately t over portions of the scalp 3, are provided vnth inlet tubes 4 and 6 and outlet tubes 5 and 1, connected by air lines, comprising tubes 8 and 3, to an air conditioning machine I0. The machine I0 is a refrigerator with cooling coil II, motor I2, compressor I3, and condenser I3' 10- cated adjacent the compressor. The motor I2 also drives a turbine-type fan I4 through a speed changer I5 to put the air under pressure in tube 8 and under partial vacuum in tube 9.

Moist air from the hair I6, Figs. 2 and 3, of scalp 3 is drawn through tube 9 (Fig. 1) past the refrigerator coils II, where it is cooled below its dewpoint to precipitate most of its moisture, and then through the fan I4 where centrifugal force precipitates residual moisture. The cool dried air is compressed and driven through the pressure head I1 to the proportioning valve I8 operated by the adjustable thermostat I9 through the link A30. Part of the air goes through the by-pass and the balance past the Warm housing of the motor I2, compressor I3, and condenser I3', where the relative humidity is further reduced by the addition of heat. This heated air mixes with the by-passed air at outlet 2I to bring the reconditioned air up to skin temperature or over,

to avoid a chilling sensation.

Each time the drier is stopped, a vacuum valve 22 and breather 23 permits the accumulated moisture to ow into the sump tank 24.

The pressures, negative and positive, in air lines 8 and 9 are controlled by the shunt valve 25.

A cross-section of a pad is shown in Fig. 2. The concave side of pad I is covered with pressure tubes 26 and suction tubes 21 so distributed that a suction tube is always adjacent to a pressure tube. Since the depth of wet hair on a scalp is only about 1A; inch, these tubes are short and slender. The tubes are pointed with a diagonal cut which may extend for the full free length of the tube. The tubes serve the double purpose of separating the wet air I6 (Fig. 3) and y guiding the jets of dried air to the scalp 3 before spreading out through the hair and into suction tubes 21. The pad I is divided into two compartments 28 and 29, into which the tubes 26 and 2l, respectively, open.

The pads I and 2 are concave sections having the general contour of the head, andthe tubes :s anon are carefully worked into the wet hair i6 without disarranging the coiffure. The pads i and 2 are exibly connected together by lacing or adjusted on a common bracket to hold them in.

place. Initially, machine lll is run a while to warm up, then tubes 8 and 9 and juniperl tubes 8 and 1 are connected to pads land?. These tubes- I, E, li, 1, 8 and 9 may-bel molded-together in pairs or one inside the other ingpairs so:y that one motion joins the tubes to the pads.

.body that rests on the head oi' the person whose hair is to be dried, said body comprising a scalpconformlng, hollow pad having a plurality of sections and means for adjusting the sections with respect to one another to nt the head of `the wearer, partition means dividing the pad into air-supply and exhaust chambers, conduits extending downward from the respective chambers and opening through the concave side of the pad, the outlet ends of the conduits from the respective chambers being adjacent one another and The dried air 'near skin temperature, orenough above skin temperature so that the evaporation of moisture does not produce avchilling sensa.-

are slotted, preferably for the full free length of the tubes, and the slots are of decreasing width as they approach the pointed ends of the tubes. Within the pad the tubes 3i are .the same as the construction shown in Fig. 3.

Though attempted before, I believe my invention is the first to apply jets of air directly to the scalp and sideways through .the hair to dry it in the quickest possible manner. While the drawing shows only two pads covering most of the scalp, this reduced number is for the sake of simplicity in the drawing. Because of the-difference in the shapes of diilerent peoples heads, it is advantageous that the drier include a number of relatively small pads which can be hinged together to obtain the flexibility necessary to conform to heads oi different size and shape. The invention is not limited to the embodiment illustrated, and various changes and modifications can be made without departing from .the invention as defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. A hair drier comprising a pad,l a partition within the pad dividing said pad into a pressure and a suction chamber, a plurality of small diameter tubes connected with the pad, alternate tubes communicating with the respective chambers, all of said tubes extending from a common face of the pad for insertion through the hair and against the scalp of a wearer, a suction line connected with the suction chamber, a pressure line connected with the pressure chamber, and an air conditioning unit including a housing having an inlet and an outlet to which the suction and pressure lines respectively are connected, a refrigerating coil at the inlet end of the housing into which air comes from said suction line, a fan for drawing the air over'the coil, a compressor, a motor between the fan and compressor with driving connections to said fan and compressor, the motor and compressor being in the housing and in the air stream from said fan so that they heat the air, a by-pass conduit that terminates adjacent the housing outlet and through which air from the fan can flow around the motor and compressor, a valve for controlling the proportion of air that flows through the bypass, and thermal-responsive means exposed to the warm air near the outlet end of the housing for operating said valve.

2. Hair drying equipment including a hollow in contact with the hair when the pad is in operative position so that with the air currents from and to the respective conduits penetrating moist hair to the scalp cross currents of airl are circulated through the hair, air conditioning apparay tus connected with the hollow body including tubing through which moisture-laden air is with- -drawn from the suction chamber, a housing with an inlet to which said tubing is connected, a cooling surface inthe housing in the path of air passing through the housing, a refrigerating system for circulating a cooling medium behind the cooling surface to chill said cooling surface below the dew point ofthe air supplied to the housing, other passages through which airfrom the cooling surface housing is delivered to the pressure chamber of said hollow body, a fan for moving the air and increasing the pressure of the air as it moves toward the pressure chamber, heating-means in one of the passages and downstream from the cooling apparatus for raising the temperature of the air to reduce its relative humidity, and means for controlling the extent of the reheating.

3. A hair drier comprising a pad, a partition within the pad dividing said pad into a pressure and a. suction chamber, a plurality of small diameter tubes connected .with the pad, alternate tubes communicating with the respective chambers, all of said tubes extending from a common face of the pad for insertion through the hair and against `the scalp of a wearer, a suction line connected with the suction chamber, and a pressure line connected with the pressure chamber.

4. A hair drier including a plurality of small tubes that extend into the hair and against the scalp, an air line. a chamber connecting the airline with some of the tubes and through which air is supplied to dry the hair, a suction line, a chamber connecting the suction line with others of said tubes for withdrawing moist air from the vicinity of the hair, means for circulating and conditioning the air including a container communicating at one end with the pressure line and at the other end with the suction line, a drain outlet at the bottom of the container, a sump tank below the drain outlet, a vacuum valve commanding the drain outlet, apparatus-in the container including a cooling coil, a fan, a reduction gear unit, a motor, and a compressor positioned in the order named between the suction and pressure end of the container, and a bypass around the motor and compressor for the passage of cool air from the vicinity of the cooling coil to the pressure end of the container.

5. Hair drying apparatus including a head cover made up of a number of hollow pads,` each with a plurality of small pointed tubes extending from one face of the pad and connected to the pad at their larger ends, a partition within the pad, substantially parallel with the face of the pad from which the tubes extend and dividing the interior 'of the pad into two chambersfonehalf of the tubes opening into the chamber immediately behind said face, and the other half passing through this first chamber -and opening into the chamber beyondjsaid partition, all of said tubes having orifices at their pointed ends for the circulation o f air into and out of said tubes, a conduit communicating with one of the chambers for supplying air to that chamber under pressure, and another conduit communicating with the other chamber for withdrawing air and creating a suction in the tubes communicating with that chamber.

6. A hollow pad with one face covered with pointed pressure tubes for introducing numerous jets of dried air directly to the scalp Afor the purpose of quickly and comfortably drying wet hair, other pointed suction tubes distributed among the pressure tubes to draw these jets of air and moisture away from the hairkand a partition generally parallel to said face of the pad and dividing the interior of the pad into a pres- 9. A hair drier including a scalp-conforming, hollow pad, partition means dividing the pad into air-supply and exhaust chambers, an inlet to the sure and a suction chamber, said pressure and suction tubes being connected with the respective chambers, said pressure chamber havin-g an inlet for. the drying air and said suction chamber having an outlet for the moisture-laden air.

7. Hair drying apparatus comprising a plurality of hollow pads with bottom faces shaped to the general contour of a head and joined together by lacing that serves as a hinged connection, each of said pads being provided with v an inlet through which air enters the hollow pad, a plurality of closely spaced, small pointed tubes extending from the bottom face of each pad and connected with the pad at their larger ends, said tubes having orifices at their pointed ends for discharging a plurality of air streams into spaced regions under the hair and close to the scalp.

8. A hair drier comprising a set of hollow pads conforming to at least a part of the scalp, partition means dividing each pad into air-supply and exhaust chambers, the air supply chamber having an inlet for air and the exhaust chamber having an exhaust outlet, tubular fingers on the concave sides of the pads serving as orifices to the pads and extending downward from the respective chambers to supply air to and exhaust it from the hair and scalp.

air pressure chamber, an outlet from the exhaust chamber, hollow tubes extending downward from the respective chambers and projecting from the concave side of the pad, the open ends of the tubes from the respective chambers being adjacent one another so that with the tubes penetrating moist hair to the scalp cross currents of air are circulated through the hair.

10. A hair drier comprising a scalp-conforming hollow pad, a partition dividing said pad into pressure and Suction chambers, a,v plurality of pressure ngers extending from one face of the pad and communicating with one chamber of the pad, a pluralityy of suction fingers extending from said face of the pad and communicating with another` chamber of the pad, apparatus for drying, tempering and circulating air comprising in combination a housing having an inlet and an outlet through which air passes, a conduit connecting the suction chamber of the pad with the inlet of the housing, another conduit connecting the pressure chamber of the pad with the outlet of the housing, a refrigerator compressor and cooling coil located in said housing, a turbine-type fan for moving the air through the housing, a motor for operating the refrigerator compressor and the fan, a sump tank at the bottom of the housing, a vacuum valve ior controlling communication between the sump tank and the housing, a by-pass through which a portion of the air ilows after being dried first on the cooling coil and then by centrifugal force in the fan while other of the air is heated in the housing by passage over the motor and compressor. a proportioning valve for determining what portion of the air travels through the by-pass, a thermally-responsive operator for the proportioning valve, and a conduit in which the heated air mixes with the air from the by-pass and tempers the air from the by-pass as the air is forced back to the pressure fingers.

ROBERT VALVERDE. 

